tv wusa 9 News at 6pm CBS January 7, 2014 6:00pm-6:23pm EST
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d.c. mayor and leaders from across our region are reminding us tonight, keep looking out for folks who might need some special help handling all this cold weather. here in d.c., dial 311 and that will get you in touch with the right aide or people who don't have homes. similar plans are in place in other cities and counties as well. >> and a head's up from gw university hospital tonight. scheduled surgeries and lab visits are happening as scheduled. those leaks flooded almost three dozen patient rooms and that forced hospital staff to move patients to other rooms. the families will be getting a call from the hospital and in montgomery county, leaky pipes had fire crews moving from an assisted living facility to a nearby church. the leaky plumbing affected the electrical circuits. that was only a precaution. the leak does not appear to have done any serious damage.
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in maryland, this deep freeze had crews racing to fix at least 38 water main breaks in the suburbs alone. scott broom is at veers mill road at university boulevard in wheaten to tell us about just one of them. scotty. >> situations like this are just such a double whammy, because there are more water main breaks and it also takes exponentially more time to fix them. >> what hurts the most? fingers, toes, or ears? >> toes. right now, i think the toes. >> here on the job, a crew of six battling ice and brutal cold. meanwhile, motorists are trying to navigate the sheet of muddy ice that formed in the middle of university boulevard. >> about as bad as i ran to yet in 30 years. >> freezed all our tools. >> jeff is a contractor brought in by the wssc to get the job done. >> it's cold up here. no wind, it's nice and warm.
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>> wssc is predicting more of this. jerry irvine speaks for the utility. >> water temperatures what causes the breaks in the pipes. while we're seeing a spike today, we'll be on alert for at least the next 24 hours because that water temperature through these aging pipes has a tendency to cause breaks. it's not an easy thing to do to dig down into frozen ground. we commend them for it. >> jerry told me this afternoon, normally it takes six hours to fix a water main break, but today they had to cycle guys in and out of trucks. at this location and university boulevard, they are going into their 24th hour trying to fix this. the good news is, they will ramp up. at least this road will be back in commuter shape by tomorrow morning, at least they hope so if they don't run into more problems. reporting live, scott broom,
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wusa9. >> making it easier for us to get around. >> school systems seem to be waiting and watching tonight before they make a decision before whether to send your kids to class tomorrow. so far, we heard from some school systems, including fairfax county. the schools will open two hours late. as we get more, you'll find them at the bottom of your screen and online or on our wusa9 ipad app. >> coming up next, cracking down. city agencies take action after wusa9's year-long education into questionable practices by d.c. taxi drivers. >> plus, topper is back with a full forecast and this brutal, frigid weather has you down, don't worry. be happy. relief is coming, seriously, [ male announcer ] are you watching cable?
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back now with a followup to a wusa9 investigation. we're talking about black passengers repeatedly being refused service by d.c. taxi cab drivers. tonight, one agency is under investigation and two are announcing new efforts to prevent drivers from making race an issue when it comes to hailing a cab. it's all in response to a year-
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long investigation by our investigative reporter. any long nights and weekends out on d.c. streets. >> we have, and it looks like now maybe some steps to to protect the access for all citizens. today we obtained this letter from the d.c. office of n rights. it's a letter saying it is investigating not only what is going on that we have repeatedly documented, but that being black passengers being treated differently than white passengers, they are investigating the d.c. taxi commission itself, which not only doesn't track racial disperties, hasn't had on going investigations to stop it. >> our undercover cameras repeatedly documented this. >> here we go. >> watch as this real passenger walked into our undercover operation. he passed by one cab, right behind it a second cab. in december of the 34 cabs our black passengers tried to hail, only 23 stopped.
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that's me, a white passenger, for the same 23 rides, i only had to hail 22 cabs. that cab hailed me with a honk before i even held out my hand. the office of human rights letter specifically sites my taxi related reporting with wusa9. agreeing with council member, tommy wells call for a probe saying the problem persists and merits investigation. wells called for intervention where in our december investigation, the taxi cab commission chairman said he didn't blame racism. >> it's not the racial thing that results in failure to hail. most of it is economic. >> they don't know where these passengers are going. >> they are passing them, making an assumption by race that they are going to a certain location. >> that's right. but it's an economic assumption. >> shortly after wusa9 obtained this letter announcing its investigation, the taxi cab
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commission announced new field studies, including a future field test operation focusing on refusal to service passengers, calling it a violation that will not be tolerated. the d.c. taxi commission chairman said he was wrong to make that statement blaming economics instead of racism. and in fact, in today's announcement, it appears the agency's upcoming operations will now closely resemble the tests that we have been doing for more than a year now. >> it's nice to know that more than a year, these violations will not be top rated. we'll see whathappens. >> we'd like to see that. >> all right. >> this is a red alert day. now, here is wusa9's first alert weather. >> for the first time in eight hours, it's warm under the lights here. it has been cold. i got the long underwear, and it is bitter. >> you lost power.
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>> i lost power at my house. when you wake up and it's dead silence, you know something is not quite right. you look over and check the clock, nothing. no flash. nothing. >> all right, high temperature 21 today, derek, it's on the way out. but by the time we get to the weekend, it will be a distant memory. let's start with a live look outside. it's our weather cam. temperature right now after a high of 21, down to 18. i did some research. back in '93, in january of '93, that is when we -- '94, that's when we had the rolling blackos, but the high was 8 and it was 4 below. it was colder for a longer stretch of time. relative humidity 33%. put humidity back into your house this time of year and winds light, north, northwest at 10. arctic blast is here, but the good news, it's on the way out. leave your cabinet doors open. those that face the exterior walls, they get some ambient
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heat from the room. if you had trouble before, leave the water running. bring pets inside, of course, and we stay below freezing until thursday afternoon. temperatures, 15 in college park. 15 in arlington. 16 down in alexandria and old town and 15 in college park and 15 in annapolis and 17 down in waldorf. factor in the wind. just a little bit of a breeze. enough to drive the windchill to 6 downtown and 1 in gaithersburg and 0 in frederic and 4 below in martinsburg. still remains 18 as a windchill in manassas. the winds are negligence. on the way out, that's good news. winds diminish tonight. and then bus stop temperes. those are going to be straight temperatures. no windchills tomorrow morning. and then temperatures above freezing by thursday afternoon. so relatively short lived arctic blast thankfully. for tonight, clear skies, winds
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diminish 5 to 15. winds westerly. temperatures, some folks in the single digits tonight. out toward rockville, gaithersburg, you'll be upper single digits. 11 in fairfax. 11 in springfield. maybe 6 in sterling and 6 in leesburg. a double edged sword. the winds die down. we don't have a windchill to worry about, but allows the temperature to fallower than it would. we'll break it down for you. these are city temperatures. 17 at 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. up to 20 at 9:00 a.m. and this is much better than it was this morning. remember, downtown we were in the single digits at national. 24 by 11:00 a.m. and by 1:00 p.m., almost 30 with shine. next three days, 29 tomorrow. 36 on thursday. maybe a flurry. and then friday we still are tracking a little bit of a mix, which will go to rain. high temperature 44. the problem is, the mix rolls in just in time for the friday morning commute. we'll keep you posted on that. may have to up that to a yellow
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now, game on with kristen berset. >> college football has survived 16 controversial years of the bowl championship series. next year, that 14 playoff begins. but the final ever bcs championship is one we'll remember for a long time. florida state found themselves down 18 points at halftime. only to put together an epic comeback. here is the final five minutes of a wild finish. >> great return man. get it. headed for the end zone. touchdown florida state. a 100 yard return and auburn is stung by its own medicine. >> taking it to the right. to the 25.
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he breaks free. and the 5. auburn touchdown. he did that on his own. 37 great running yards. he is looking to the end zone and benjamin, florida state touchdown. florida state touchdown. with 13 seconds left. 50 yards away from the line of scrimmage. caught by one receiver, marshall to the near side, mason to the 30. time is expired. mason tackled at the 35. the ball is fumbled. it's retired and the game is over. and for the third time, florida state reigns supreme, the seminoles completed the perfect season. >> got to love those radio calls. florida state is 14-0. snaps the sec's hold on the bcs championship at 7 in a row. a fitting ending to a college
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football season. now amid all the controversy, there is positive robert griffin, iii, news to report. he was selected by his teammates to win the courage award. overcoming adversity. grin returning from knee surgery. and released the olympic hockey team and alex ovechkin will compete for his home country. he was the first to carry the torch when it was lit in olympia. also capitals, nicklas backstrom will play on sweden's team. john carlson for the u.s.a. and, don't forget to vote in our high school game of the week poll. we have four great games for you to choose from. text the code to the game you want to 25543 and we'll announce the winner on thursday night. >> that was a really good game last night. >> looked away and you missed that kickoff return, i walked upstairs. >> 21-3 at halftime. >> all right, go florida state. all right, that's it for us.
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>> pelley: tonight, the worst day of the big chill. the freeze reaches all 50 states. >> it's cold as hell out there! >> pelley: jim axelrod has the northeast. mark strassmann the south. jeff pegues the travel trouble. and dean reynolds is with those in greatest danger. former defense secretary robert gates tells rita braver president obama doubted his own afghanistan policy. nearly 100 cops and firemen are accused of claiming fraudulent disability. do these men look disabled? jeff glor reports.
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